Tauba Auerbach The New Ambidextrous Universe

David Robilliard The Yes No Quality of Dreams

16 April — 15 June 2014

Educator’s Resource Pack Contents Aims of the Resource Pack

Aims of the Resource Pack 3 This resource pack has been developed to support teaching and learning both at the ICA and offsite. It offers starting points and ideas for visiting educators to use with students. It was developed with GCSE and A-Level students in mind but is well suited for work with groups of all ages. Activities and About the /ICA Also Showing 4 discussion points are suggested and one of the key learning objectives is for students to develop their skills in aesthetic understanding and critical judgement. Students will be guided towards an analysis and exploration of how the artworks in Tauba Auerbach: The New Ambidextrous Universe and David An Introduction to Tauba Auerbach: The New Ambidextrous Universe 5 Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams reflect the social and cultural contexts in which they were made. Suggested activities are offered for use in the gallery and offsite.

Tauba Auerbach: The New Ambidextrous Universe Exhibition Images 6-7

Tauba Auerbach Discussion and Activities 8-9

An Introduction to David Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams 10

David Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams Exhibition Images 11

David Robilliard Discussion and Activities 12-13

Art Rules 14

ICA Learning / Forthcoming Events 15-17

Useful Links and Resources 18

Photo: Paul Knight. Courtesy ICA.

2 3 About the ICA An Introduction to Tauba Auerbach The New Ambidextrous Universe

The ICA supports radical art and culture. Through a vibrant programme of exhibitions, films, events, Tauba Auerbach: The New Ambidextrous Universe talks and debates, the ICA challenges perceived notions and stimulates debate, experimentation, creativity and exchange with visitors. The New Ambidextrous Universe is the first solo exhibition in the UK by San Francisco-born, New York- based artist Tauba Auerbach, who works in a wide variety of media including sculpture, photography, Founded in 1946 by a group of artists including Roland Penrose, Peter Watson and Herbert Read, the painting, weaving and book design. Auerbach takes a highly innovative approach to mechanical ICA continues to support living artists in showing and exploring their work, often as it emerges and processes and colour. Her ICA exhibition features newly created sculptures and photographs which before others. The ICA has been at the forefront of cultural experimentation since its formation and take as their starting point the scientific principles of symmetry and reflection as a means to hint at an has presented important debut solo shows by artists including , Steve McQueen, Richard alternate, mirror universe. Prince and Luc Tuymans. More recently Pablo Bronstein, Lis Rhodes, Bjarne Melgaard and Juergen Teller have all staged key solo exhibitions, whilst a new generation of artists, including Luke Fowler, The word ambidextrous means equally strong on both the right and left. Auerbach has taken full Lucky PDF, Hannah Sawtell and Factory Floor have taken part in exhibitions and residencies. advantage of this physical concept of parity and reflection. Her seven sculptures, meticulously arranged by the artist herself, are displayed in the Lower Gallery in such a way that visitors are The ICA was one of the first venues to present The Clash and The Smiths, as well as bands such as encouraged to view the works from all sides and fully explore the artist’s use of symmetry and three Throbbing Gristle. The inaugural ICA / LUX Biennial of Moving Images was launched in 2012, and the dimensional space. The strong influence of physics and maths, rather than only aesthetics is visible ICA Cinema continues to screen rare artists’ film, support independent releases and partner with through the use of repeating patterns and mechanical processes. The artist has chosen to explore leading film festivals. the complex ideas examined in Martin Gardner’s book, The New Ambidextrous Universe, by creating sculptures that play with shape and space, allowing for a visual representation of the ideas of interconnectivity. Auerbach combines this emphasis on symmetry and reflection with the juxtaposition of opposites. Wooden works next to those of glass and metal, naturally occuring woodgrain versus brightly colored plastic, and the use of organic as well as more geometric shapes are some examples Also showing at the ICA of these contrasts. Auerbach’s recent solo exhibitions include Standard, Oslo (2013), Wiels Centre of Contemporary Art, Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks Brussels; Malmö Konsthall, Malmö; and Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2011 – 2012). Recent group 1 April – 11 May 2014 exhibitions include Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language, 2012, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Fox Reading Room The Painting Factory, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Lifelike, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Supported by Paula Cooper Gallery, STANDARD (Oslo), Tristan Capital Partners and the Tauba Auerbach Exhibition Supporters Group including Maya & Ramzy Rasamny, among others.

www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions

Walerian Borowczyk: The Listening Eye 20 May – 6 July 2014 Fox Reading Room www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions

4 5 Tauba Auerbach Tauba Auerbach The New Ambidextrous Universe The New Ambidextrous Universe

Tauba Auerbach, installation view of The New Ambidextrous Universe IV, 2013 Tauba Auerbach, installation view of Knit Stitch, 2014. Photo: Paul Knight. Photo: Paul Knight.

The New Ambidextrous Universe I, 2013, Plywood, .75 x 96 x 48 inches. Tauba Auerbach, installation view of S Helix, 2014. Photo: Paul Knight. Photo: Vegard Kleven Courtesy Standard (Oslo).

6 7 Discussion and Activities

Discussion Activities

• Auerbach’s work has been carefully arranged in the gallery. What aspects of the artist’s work are Create emphasised through the design of the space? • Auerbach uses the scientific principles of symmetry and reflection in her work to hint at an • What does Auerbach emphasise visually in her work? Describe the formal elements of each piece alternate mirror universe. Using a variety of media create a work of art that explores symmetry and and discuss the relationships between the works. reflection in relation to natural and man-made forms.

• Auerbach has stated that she thinks more about maths than art history. Her work here is linked to • The New Ambidextrous Universe, a book by Martin Gardner, inspired Auerbach’s exhibition of the Martin Gardner’s book The New Ambidextrous Universe which is about modern physics. Do you same name. Choose a book that has had a significant impact on you and make the title the starting think it is important that the viewer understands the challenging concepts and scientific theories point for a series of works, experimenting with a variety of media. behind Auerbach’s work? How can the audience access a greater understanding of her work?

• Analyse the term ‘ambidextrous’ and how we can understand the works in relation to this. Analyse

• Why do you think Auerbach chose to explore scientific principles and systems of signification • Analyse how the work has been arranged in the gallery. Imagine you are a curator and through art? re-designing the exhibition. How might you arrange the works? Which works would you choose to highlight? How could you emphasise certain themes through the design of the space? • Explain how Auerbach has used colour in her work. How does the artist’s use of colour relate to the theme of the exhibition? • Auerbach is fascinated by the process of deconstructing systems of signification. Deconstruct a system of signification that interests you. Explore how the process of breaking down the structures • Auerbach uses a wide variety of materials - photography, plywood, aluminium, glass, metal and might open up new visual possibilities. Assess the success of these new visual possibilities – how stainless steel. Her work in general includes sculpture, photography, painting, weaving and book might you measure this? design. What does this broad range of materials and techniques suggest about the role of contemporary artists today? Experiment • Auerbach’s work has been described as conceptual, abstract and graphic. How would you • Auerbach combines her interest in spatial experience with her fascination with mechanical process categorise the works in the exhibition? and craft, as demonstrated by the work Knit Stitch (2014). Experiment with traditional crafts such as weaving, knitting and paper folding. Use drawing and diagrams to document the visual and tactile qualities of the materials and the underlying structures.

8 9 An Introduction to David Robilliard The Yes No Quality of Dreams

David Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams Robilliard’s works are heavily based on his personal experiences but deal with the relatable themes The ICA brings together a selection of paintings by London-based poet and painter David Robilliard in of attraction, relationships and loneliness. His subjects include glances, arguments and everyday the first UK institutional exhibition for over twenty years. These intimate paintings combine figurative thoughts that define the way people interact with one another. By using single lines of poetry on the elements with text taken directly from Robilliard’s own poems. Coded and knowing, his evocative canvas, the artist draws the viewer’s attention to a subject but avoids making a firm comment on it. prose alludes to intimate sexual encounters and passing infatuations that ultimately conjure an image This careful composition allows viewers to draw their own meanings based on personal experience of 1980s queer London. and reflects the ambiguity that exists in social and emotional relationships

Robilliard moved to London in 1975 and became close friends with Gilbert & George, momentarily Robilliard’s paintings appeared in numerous gallery exhibitions during his lifetime, as well as appearing in the filmThe World of Gilbert & George (1981). Commenting on him, they said, ‘His exhibiting in venues such as London’s Hippodrome and L’Escargot restaurant. In 1993, a major truthfulness, sadness, desperation and love of people gave his work a brilliance and beauty that retrospective was held at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. stands out a mile.’ Throughout the 1980s Robilliard published books and postcards of his poetry, as well as contributing to publications such as The Fred, Square Peg and The Manipulator. Despite Exhibition to be accompanied by an ICA publication. Introduction by Gregor Muir (ICA Executive being heavily associated with 1980s queer culture, Robilliard’s poems still carry a sense of fresh and Director), main text by Andrew Wilson (Curator of Modern & Contemporary British Art at Britain). sardonic humour today. Gilbert & George described him as ‘the new master of the modern person’ due to the raw truth present in his work.

In the group of paintings on show in the Upper Gallery, Robilliard plays with the combination of text and image. His works are not simply illustrations of the text but rather additions that add to their Supported by the David Robillliard Exhibition Supporters Group including Aurel Scheibler, among others. meaning. His imagery is figurative, but more specfically facial, never showing the whole body but instead focusing on heads. Never formally trained, Robilliard’s style is minimalist but expressive, With thanks to support from Guernsey Arts Commission using flat line and color on stark white backgrounds. His use of bright colors and playful image has a feeling of irreverence at first but the text and the facial expressions used take on a more serious tone, creating a sense of irony, contradiction, and uncertainty. www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions

Image: Alan Macdonald, Manipulated Polaroid of David Robilliard, 1981. Coutesy Alan Macdonald. 10 11 David Robilliard David Robilliard The Yes No Quality of Dreams The Yes No Quality of Dreams

David Robilliard, installation view of You Know, 1988. Photo: Paul Knight.

David Robilliard, Life Isn’t Good, It’s Excellent, 1987. Photo: Paul Knight.

David Robilliard, installation view of The Naked Flame, 1988. Photo: Paul Knight. David Robilliard, A Roomful of Hungry Looks, 1987. Photo: Paul Knight. 12 13 Discussion and Activities

Discussion Activities

• Describe the relationship between text and image in Robilliard’s work. What impact do the words Create in his paintings have on the viewer? • Create a sound piece using a poem that you have written. Record certain lines and words from the • A lack of certainty is suggested by the title of the exhibition. Analyse the theme of uncertainty poem and experiment with varying the sound and speed of these words (think about sound in and ambiguity in Robilliard’s paintings. How do the formal properties of the works emphasise terms of composition). Assess the impact that these recordings have on the listener. these themes? • Robilliard has considered the arrangement of text on the canvas, as well as its size and the colours • The works show a selection of the artist’s intimate thoughts and observations about life. What do used. Develop a series of paintings and/or drawings that explores text in terms of scale, shape and you think the artist wanted to communicate to the viewer? Do you think the artist is expressing his composition. identity through the works? How does the knowledge of his life and early death to AIDS change the way you view the work? • Research historical precedents for using image and text in works of art. Find three artists who use image and text and compare and contrast their work. Create a work of art in response to one of • How does Robilliard’s work fit into the social aspect of life in London during the 80s? What does your chosen artists using any media. Robilliard’s work tell us about the experience of being homosexual during this time? Write • Robilliard’s imagery might be perceived as child-like or simplistic by some viewers. How would you describe the work? Discuss the impact of the style that he employs. Have you encountered other artists who have used a similar style? • The words used in Robilliard’s paintings are taken from his poetry. Write a poem about your observations as you walk around the gallery or another space of your choice. Use one line from the • Discuss how Robilliard’s work might be understood by viewers of different ages and cultures. How poem as a starting point for a painting. Repeat the process in different settings to create a series do you think critics might have responded to his work at the time it was produced? of paintings

• Robilliard was friends with Gilbert & George. They wrote of Robilliard that he is ‘the new master • Writings about Robilliard often reference the artists Gilbert & George, as they were close friends. of the modern person. Looking, thinking, feeling, seeing, bitching – he brilliantly encapsulates the Research the work of Gilbert & George and write an essay about the influence they had on the ’Existers’ spirit of our time.’ Think of a person who could be a present-day equivalent and discuss artist. the reasons for your choice.

14 15 Art Rules ICA Learning

The ICA’s Art Rules website is an online forum designed to generate debate around contemporary art. Our dynamic learning programme provides opportunities for creative exchange, investigation and The website asks visitors to answer the question: ‘What is art?’. Their answers appear on the website discussion between practitioners and audiences. The ICA strives to build sustainable relationships for other visitors to comment on, and conversations are started around the submitted ‘rules’. Visitors with universities, students, schools and our wider audiences, nurturing interest and appreciation of the can ‘Agree’ or ‘Disagree’ with these rules - as well as share a rule using Twitter, Facebook and creative process, and broadening engagement with contemporary arts. Pinterest. ICA Learning provides different opportunities to engage with the ICA programme through gallery The more people ‘Agree’ with a rule, the larger it will appear on the website, and vice versa. The tours, guided visits to our exhibitions, Friday Salons, online educational platforms and the ICA Student website has been seeded with a number of rules written by leading artists, curators and critics. This is Forum, a dedicated student body that curates events and projects for the Public Programme. to serve as inspiration for visitors and enable the site to become a repository of outstanding thinking as well as a community of cultural commentators. Our University Partnerships exist to encourage the development of joint projects and research. In addition, ICA Academy provides career paths to Further Education, Higher Education and artrules.ica.org.uk employment.

For further information or to make a booking, please email [email protected]

ICA Learning is generously supported by The Ernest Cook Trust

ICA Forthcoming Events

Learning Workshop

‘Get Off My Back Will You and Give Someone Else a Chance’ Saturday 31 May, 2pm

In light of the David Robilliard exhibition, artists Jay Bernard and Evan Ifekoya will lead a workshop for 16-19 year olds that experiments with alternative poetry, drawing connections between voice, text, and technology. Participants will create their own postcard poems and have the opportunity to be part of an evening of readings and performances alongside leading international poets.

Activity The workshop is free but a place must be booked in advance.

Log onto the ‘Art Rules’ website and submit your very own ‘Art Rule’ and discuss with the group why To book contact ICA Box Office on 020 7930 3647 or email [email protected] you chose it. The rest of the group with then have the opportunity to debate the rule and decide whether or not they agree with it. The workshop will be followed by a performance at 7.30pm, which is £5, free for ICA members and workshop participants. artrules.ica.org.uk

16 17 ICA Forthcoming Events ICA Forthcoming Events

Gallery Tours Culture Now Artists’ Film Club Pick-Me-Ups and Pick-Ups Joshua Dector Anka & Wilhelm Sasnal Tuesday 3 June, 7pm Friday 23 May, 1pm Saturday 17 May, 5pm This event invites a series of artists to contribute textual pieces (thier own, or of others) to be presented as readings, performances and poetically wry gestures over wine in the ICA Bar. Richard Scott Ariel Reichman Colour £5, Free to ICA Members. Thursday 12 June, 6.30pm Friday 20 June, 1pm Wednesday, 21 May, 6.45pm Artist Presentation: Tauba Auerbach Adrien Missika Saturday 7 June, 6pm Wednesday 4 June, 6.45pm To coincide with Tauba Auerbach’s first UK solo exhibition at the ICA and the inaugural Room&Book Art Book Fair, Auerbach will make a presentation on her practice that will touch on her self-published Yang Fudong print on demand artist books. Saturday 14 & Sunday 15 June, £10, £7 to ICA Members. 6.15pm Re-Materialising Feminism Performance: Saturday 20 June 6.30-8pm All Gallery Tours are Free. All Culture Now Talks are £5, All Artists’ Film Club tickets are Workshop & Performance: Sunday 21 June, 12-5pm Free to ICA Members. £5, Free to ICA Members Re-Materialising Feminism is a collaborative project, hosted between the ICA and The Showroom and aimed at interrogating materialist feminist discourse within in contemporary culture and emergent feminisms. The second part of the project at the ICA comprises of a series of text-based interventions, performances, screenings and onstage conversations that reconsider older feminist strategies of representation in light of a resurgence of interest in feminism in culture and the mass media. Friday Salons £5 per day or £8 for 2-day ticket, Free to ICA Members.

Art as Spatial Practice Friday 16 May, 3pm This Salon will take as its starting point the concept of contemporary art as an architectural form to How to book discuss more broadly the boundaries between contemporary art and theoretical architecture. £5, Free to ICA Members. To book for groups or individuals contact ICA Box Office on 020 7930 3647 or email [email protected] Re-materilising Feminism Friday 20 June, 3pm For more details on events visit The curators of Re-Materilising Feminism will be joined by students and emerging practitioners to www.ica.org.uk/whats-on present and explore new feminist research and practice over the last few years. £5, Free to ICA Members.

Group Screenings

Continuing this autumn is our group screenings programme aimed at schools, colleges, further educa- tion centres, community groups, and young people outside of school. Further information about films, dates, and resources will be available on the website in the coming months.

For more info visit ica.org.uk /learning/school-and-group-screenings 18 19 Useful Links and Resources

ICA Learning Opening Hours www.ica.org.uk/learning Tuesday—Sunday, 11am—11pm [email protected] Day Membership £1 Educator’s Previews Wednesday—Sunday, 11am-6pm Join our educatos previews for all of our Until 9pm on Thursdays exhibitions Exhibitions Educator’s Resource Packs Tuesday—Sunday, 11am—6pm Educator resource packs are available at the ICA Open late every Thursday until 9pm Box Office, on the ICA website, or by emailing [email protected] ICA Box Office & Bookshop Tuesday—Sunday, 11am—9pm Art Rules Art Rules is an online space to discuss the rules ICA Café Bar of art today. Engage your students by visiting: Food served from 11.30—3.30pm / 5.30—9pm artrules.ica.org.uk Tuesday Cinema MA in the Contemporary All films, all day: £3 for ICA Members / £6 Find out more about our unique, interdisciplinary non-Members MA programme, in partnership with University of Kent: Sign Up to our Newsletters www.ica.org.uk/ma-contemporary www.ica.org.uk/signup

Cinema Matinee Screenings Follow us Cinema group matinees are available for schools, colleges and universities. To see the full pro- flickr gramme visit: www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/films Cover image: Tauba Auerbach, installation view of Square Helix, 2014. Photo: Paul Knight. ICA Student Forum Join the ICA Student Forum to shape and develop a public programme of events in response to the Resource Pack developed by Rita Cottone and ICA programme: Irene O’Hare www.ica.org.uk/student-forum

University Partnerships Through our University partnerships we engage and promote greater collaborative opportunities between university students, teaching staff and the ICA’s public programme. Find out more: www.ica.org.uk/university-partnerships

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